Ducks, Newburyport

by Lucy Ellmann

the fact that in response to the slightest financial hiccup, they murder their families, the fact that how is that the answer, the fact that shooting your estranged wife or girlfriend’s become the new normal, the fact that it’s getting so that it’s surprising when men don’t shoot their exes, the fact that that family over in Greenville “did everything together,” and they died together too, thanks to a semi-automatic, “close-knit,” broken, the fact that you never know though, the fact that maybe they “did everything together” because he was the jealous type and wouldn’t let them out of his sight, the fact that there was a school shooting scare in Pittsburgh, that didn’t come to anything in the end, and when they interviewed some of the moms after it was all over, the moms were all smiling, the fact that they said they were glad that god and the police will protect their kids from school shooters, gug, the fact that actually god and the police fail thirty thousand Americans a year, and nobody saves you from the medical bills, the fact that first you’re crippled by a bullet and then by what it costs to fish it out, the fact that there’ve been two hundred school shootings in the last two years, and probably thousands of school shooting threats and plots and near-misses, the fact that “This is now,” and all these gun places that pretend to be providing Ohioans with hunting equipment and advice, and survival gear and all, never consider whether they’re also providing the means t...